298 killed in 373 road crashes during Eid trips

A total of 298 people were killed and over 2,000 injured in 373 road accidents across the country in 15 days, from March 14 to 28, during the Eid-ul-Fitr trips, reveals a report of a private organisation advocating for road safety.
Of the deceased, 46 were women and 67 were children. Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) Saidur Rahman read out the report based on information from newspapers and online news portals.
The report issued on Thursday said that 116 people died in 143 motorbike accidents or 38.92 per cent of the total road accidents.
The rate of accidents involving motorbikes is 38.33 per cent.
A total of 47 pedestrians were also killed in the accidents, which are 15.77 per cent of the total casualties.
A total of 36 drivers and assistants of vehicles were also killed during the period, which were 12.08 per cent of the total casualties.
The report said that 11 river route accidents also claimed nine lives and left 23 people injured and two persons missing, (who are still traceless).
A total of 29 railway accidents claimed 41 lives and left 209 people injured.
Accounts of the vehicle-wise casualties: Motorbike drivers and riders are 116 persons (or 38.92 per cent of the total deaths); bus passengers 41 persons (or 13.75 per cent); truck and pickup passengers 13 persons (or 4.36 per cent); private car-microbus passengers 20 persons (or 6.71 per cent); three-wheeler (easy bike, CNG -run auto-rickshaws) 50 persons or (16.77 per cent); human haulers (Nasimons, Bhotbotis, Mahindras and Tomoms) nine persons (or 3.02 per cent) and bicycle passengers two (or 0.67 per cent).
The RSF in its report observed that that faulty vehicles, breakneck speed, incapacity and lack of mental and physical fitness of drivers, absence of fix time for drivers working hours, weak traffic management, tendency for not following traffic rules by the pedestrians, lack of traffic rules among the pedestrians, lack of capacity of BRTA and extortion in transport sector are the main causes for recurrence of road accidents.
It also recommended reconstituting the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) under which BRTA, BRTC and DTCA will be operating, empowering the NRSC to draft laws, rules and regulations, ensuring structural reforms of BRTA, BRTC and DTCA and appointing technical persons there, making it mandatory to use high-tech modern technology in motor vehicles, withdrawing years old vehicles from roads, increasing the number of BRTC buses, creating more skilled drivers and fixing their working hours and salary structure, appointing gate-keepers at all level crossings, ensuring service roads for slow speed vehicles and forming an unified communication ministry by combining roads, railways and shipping ministries and enacting a time-befitting policy for ensuring a safe road system.

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